Stage and screen star Gabrielle Drake will play Madame Armfeldt in the Buxton International Festival’s summer production of A Little Night Music.
As previously announced, the first musical to feature alongside the prestigious festival’s traditional opera and classical music concert programming will star award-winning actress Janie Dee (Follies, Carousel) as Desiree, a role the West End star previously played in concert in 2015 at the Palace Theatre and last year in a special outdoor concert at Opera Holland Park.
Presented by the Festival and Buxton Opera House, the new production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s evocative musical will also feature David Leonard (Chicago, The Pitmen Painters) as Fredrik Egerman, Sarah Ingram (Sweeney Todd, Follies) as Countess Charlotte Malcolm, Tim Walton (City of Angels, Mamma Mia!) as Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm, award-winning tenor Matthew McKinney as Henrik Egerman, Molly Lynch (The Light in the Piazza, The Last Five Years) as Petra and Julia Mariko Smith (The Marriage of Figaro, Whistle Stop Opera: Cinderella) as Fredrika Armfeldt.
Commenting on the production, director and chief executive of Buxton Opera House Paul Kerryson said: “I am thrilled that Buxton International Festival and Buxton Opera House are joining their considerable forces to create a new production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s fabulous A Little Night Music with such a prestigious and talented cast.”
The creative team for the production also includes conductor Wyn Davies, musical director Iwan Davies, designers Phil Daniels and Charles Cusick Smith and lighting designer Ben Pickersgill. Performances will begin at the Buxton Opera House on 8 July.
With music and lyrics by Sondheim, a book by Wheeler and original orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, A Little Night Music debuted on Broadway in 1973. Directed by Harold Prince, the production starred Glynis Johns, Len Cariou and Hermione Gingold.
The 1975 West End premiere production featured Jean Simmons and Joss Ackland with Gingold reprising her performance as Madame Armfeldt. Other notable productions include the 1995 West End revival which featured an Olivier Award-winning performance from Judi Dench as Desiree and the 2008 Menier Chocolate Factory production which was directed by Trevor Nunn. The Menier production opened on Broadway in 2009 with the same creative team but with a new cast that included Catherine Zeta-Jones who made her Broadway debut and took home a Tony Award for her performance as Desiree alongside theatre Grand Dame Angela Lansbury as Madame Armfeldt.
Angela Thomas
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